Malwa Agency was an administrative section of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Central India Agency The Central India Agency was created in 1854, by amalgamating the Western Malwa Agency with other smaller political offices which formerly reported to the Governor-General of India. The agency was overseen by a political agent who maintained ...

. The headquarters of the political agent was at

Mandsaur Mandsaur is a city and a municipality in Mandsaur district located on Border of Mewar and Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers ...

(Mandasor) /

Neemuch Neemuch or Nimach is a town in the malwa region. Neemuch crowns the north western part of MP. It has been also referred to city of Nature and Peace. The town shares its northwestern border with the state of Rajasthan and is the administrati ...

(Nimach). The other chief towns of the region were :

Ratlam Ratlam, known historically as Ratnapuri (lit. ''gem city''), is a city in the northwestern part of the Malwa region in Madhya Pradesh states and territories of India, state of India. The city of Ratlam lies above sea level. It is the administ ...

and

Jaora Jaora is a city and a municipality in Ratlam district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Jaora is located in the Malwa region, between Ratlam and Mandsaur. It was the capital of the Jaora princely state of Jaora before Independence. During ...

History

The Malwa Agency was formed in 1895 out of

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Raj, British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, ...

s in the Northern

Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syno ...

region formerly under the authority of the British agent for

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is t ...

and the abolition of the Western Malwa Agency which had been a sub-agency of the Central India Agency since 1854.Sir William Wilson Hunter. ''The Imperial Gazetteer of India''. London: Trübner & co., 1885. The

Dewas States Dewas State was a territory within Central India, which was the seat of two Maratha princely states during the British Raj. After the Maratha conquest of Central India, Dewas was divided into two states - Dewas Senior ruled by Tukoji Rao ('Ba ...

( Dewas Senior &

Dewas Junior Dewas Junior was established by Jivaji Rao I Puar in 1728 during the Maratha conquest of Central India. It was a 15 Gun Salute Maratha princely state. On 12 December 1818, it became a British protectorate. History The original state was fou ...

) were added to Malwa Agency in 1907. In 1925 Malwa Agency was amalgamated with

Bhopawar Agency Bhopawar Agency was a sub-agency of the Central India Agency in British India with the headquarters at the town of Bhopawar, so the name. Bhopawar Agency was created in 1882 from a number of princely states in the Western Nimar and Southern Malwa ...

to form the Malwa and Bhopawar Agency, renamed the Malwa and Southern States Agency in 1927. The Dewas States were transferred to

Bhopal Agency The Bhopal Agency was a section of British India's colonial Central India Agency, a British political unit which managed the relations of the British with a number of autonomous princely states existing outside British India.Great Britain India ...

in 1931, and in 1934 the agency was once again renamed Malwa Agency. After Indian independence in 1947, the rulers of these states acceded to the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

and were amalgamated into the new Indian state of

Madhya Bharat Madhya Bharat, also known as Malwa Union, was an Indian state in west-central India, created on 28 May 1948 from twenty-five princely states which until 1947 had been part of the Central India Agency, with Jiwajirao Scindia as its Rajpramukh. ...

. Madhya Bharat was merged into

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

state on 1 November 1956.

Princely states and estates

The agency included :

Salute state A salute state was a princely state under the British Raj that had been granted a gun salute by the British Crown (as paramount ruler); i.e., the protocolary privilege for its ruler to be greeted—originally by Royal Navy ships, later also ...

s, by precedence : *

Ratlam State Ratlam State was a 13 gun salute (15 local) princely state in India, part of the Malwa Agency of Central India during the British Raj. The state's capital was Ratlam town in modern Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh. Ratlam State was origina ...

, title Maharaja Bahadur, Hereditary salute of 13-guns (15 local) *

Jaora State Jaora State was a 13 gun-salute princely state of the British Raj. It was part of the Malwa Agency. The total area of the princely state, with the dependencies of Piploda and Panth-Piploda, was . Jaora state was divided into four tehsils, J ...

, title Nawab, Hereditary salute of 13-guns *

Sailana State Sailana State was an 11 gun salute princely state in India, part of the Malwa Agency of Central India during the British Raj. The state enjoyed an estimated revenue of Rs.5,00,000. History Sailana State was founded by Raja Jai Singh, great-g ...

, title Raja Bahadur, Hereditary salute of 11-guns *

Jhabua State Jhabua State was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. It had its capital in Jhabua town. Most of the territory of the princely state was inhabited by the Bhil people, who constituted a majority of the popul ...

, title Raja, Hereditary salute of 11-guns *

Sitamau State Sitamau State was a princely state of the British Raj before 1947. Its capital was in Sitamau town, Mandsaur district, Madhya Pradesh. The total area of the state was 350 square miles. The average revenue of the state was Rs.130,000. History Ra ...

, title Raja, Hereditary salute of 11-guns Non-salute states : *

Piploda State Piploda State was an estate in India at the time of the British Raj. It belonged to the Malwa Agency, part of the Central India Agency. The state had an area of 155 km2. History The Thakurs of Piploda were Dodiya Rajputs from the Kathiaw ...

, title Rao (originally Thakur) *

Panth-Piploda Panth-Piploda was a province of British India. It is located in present-day Ratlam district of Madhya Pradesh state of central India. Panth-Piploda was British India's smallest province, with an area of , and a population of 5267 (male 2666, ...

Estate . Furthermore, it covered certain portions of -

Gwalior State Gwalior state was a semi-autonomous Maratha state. It was centred in modern-day Madhya Pradesh, arising due to the rise of the Maratha Empire and fragmentation of the Mughal Empire. It was ruled by the House of Scindia (anglicized from Shinde) ...

Indore State Indore State, also known as Holkar State, was a kingdom in India. Its rulers belonged to the Holkar dynasty. After 1857, Indore became a 19-gun salute Maratha princely state (a rare high rank) under the British Raj. Indore state wa ...

Tonk State Tonk was a Princely State of India at the time of the British Raj. The town of Tonk, which was the capital of the state, had a population of 273,201 in 1901. The town was surrounded by a wall and boasted a mud fort. It had a high school, the ...

(Senior & Junior) territories

References

{{MP Princely States Agencies of British India Historical Indian regions History of Madhya Pradesh 1947 disestablishments in India 1895 establishments in India de:Central India Agency#Malwa Agency